• 250 ml (1 cup) good-quality muscadel or strong Rooibos tea
• 45 ml (3 tbsp) honey
• 2 cinnamon sticks, broken into pieces
• 3 cardamom pods, lightly crushed to expose the seeds
• 4 ripe, but still firm, small-medium sized Packham or Bon Chrétien pears, halved
• 1 x 100 g Indezi River Creamery Caprini (soft goat’s milk cheese), plain
• 30 ml (2 tbsp) preserved ginger, chopped
• 80 ml (⅓ cup) almond flakes, toasted

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 180 °C.
2. Mix the muscadel or tea, honey, sugar and spices together.
3. Carefully scoop out the core of each pear half with a teaspoon, to create a space for the filling. Arrange the pears, cut side facing up, in a large, shallow oven dish.
4. Pour the liquid over the pears and bake for 20 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, soften the goat’s cheese in a bowl and stir in the ginger. Mix half of the nuts into the cheese mixture until well combined.
6. Remove pears from the oven and spoon some of the sauce over each half. Return to the oven and bake for another 10-15 minutes or until the pears are soft, but not mushy. Note: the riper the pears the shorter the cooking time will be. Spoon more of the sauce over the pears to absorb as much of the syrupy goodness as possible. Allow to cool slightly.
7. Just before serving, divide the goat’s cheese filling between the pear halves. Sprinkle with nuts and serve with the aromatic syrup.

Tip:

1. When in season, the pears can be substituted with peaches or nectarines.